1984 Basque regional election

The 1984 Basque regional election was held on Sunday, 26 February 1984, to elect the 2nd Parliament of the Basque Autonomous Community. All 75 seats in the Parliament were up for election.

1984 Basque regional election

26 February 1984

All 75 seats in the Basque Parliament
38 seats needed for a majority
Registered1,584,540 1.9%
Turnout1,085,304 (68.5%)
8.7 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Carlos Garaikoetxea Txiki Benegas
Party EAJ/PNV PSE–PSOE HB
Leader since April 1977 26 February 1978
Leader's seat Guipúzcoa Biscay
Last election 25 seats, 38.0% 9 seats, 14.2% 11 seats, 16.5%
Seats won 32 19 11
Seat change 7 10 0
Popular vote 451,178 247,786 157,389
Percentage 41.8% 23.0% 14.6%
Swing 3.8 pp 8.8 pp 1.9 pp

  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Jaime Mayor Oreja Mario Onaindia
Party AP–PDP–UL EE
Leader since 1984 1982
Leader's seat Guipúzcoa Álava
Last election 2 seats, 4.8%[lower-alpha 1] 6 seats, 9.8%
Seats won 7 6
Seat change 5 0
Popular vote 100,581 85,671
Percentage 9.3% 7.9%
Swing 4.5 pp 1.9 pp

Constituency results map for the Basque Parliament

Lehendakari before election

Carlos Garaikoetxea
EAJ/PNV

Elected Lehendakari

Carlos Garaikoetxea
EAJ/PNV

The Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV) won 32 seats, the Socialist Party of the Basque Country (PSE–PSOE) came second with 19 seats, People's Unity (HB) came third with 11 seats, the People's Coalition (APPDPUL) won 7 seats, and Basque Country Left (EE) won 6 seats.

Overview

Electoral system

The Basque Parliament was the devolved, unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of the Basque Country, having legislative power in regional matters as defined by the Spanish Constitution of 1978 and the regional Statute of Autonomy, as well as the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a lehendakari.[1]

Voting for the Parliament was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over eighteen, registered in the Basque Country and in full enjoyment of their political rights. The 75 members of the Basque Parliament were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with a threshold of five percent of valid votes[lower-alpha 2] being applied in each constituency. Parties not reaching the threshold were not taken into consideration for seat distribution. Seats were allocated to constituencies, corresponding to the provinces of Álava, Biscay and Guipúzcoa, being allocated a fixed number of 25 seats each to provide for an equal representation of the three provinces in parliament as required under the regional statute of autonomy.[1][2] This meant that Álava was allocated the same number of seats as Biscay and Gipuzkoa, despite their populations being, as of 1 January 1984: 264,410, 1,189,417 and 694,822, respectively.[3]

The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, coalitions and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form a coalition ahead of an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least 500 electors in the constituencies for which they sought election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates.[2][4]

Election date

The term of the Basque Parliament expired four years after the date of its previous election, unless it was dissolved earlier. An election was required to take place within from thirty-six and forty-five days from the date of expiry of parliament. The previous election was held on 9 March 1980, which meant that the legislature's term would have expired on 9 March 1984. The election was required to be held no later than the forty-fifth day from dissolution, setting the latest possible election date for the Parliament on Monday, 23 April 1984.[1][2]

After legal amendments in 1981, the lehendakari was granted the prerogative to dissolve the Basque Parliament at any given time and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process. In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a lehendakari within a sixty-day period from the Parliament re-assembly, the Parliament was to be dissolved and a fresh election called.[5]

Opinion polls

The tables below lists opinion polling results in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed with its background shaded in the leading party's colour. If a tie ensues, this is applied to the figures with the highest percentages. The "Lead" column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the parties with the highest percentages in a given poll.

Voting intention estimates

The table below lists weighted voting intention estimates. When available, seat projections are also displayed below (or in place of) the voting estimates in a smaller font; 38 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Basque Parliament (31 until 11 December 1983).

Voting preferences

The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.

Victory likelihood

The table below lists opinion polling on the perceived likelihood of victory for each party in the event of a regional election taking place.

Preferred Lehendakari

The table below lists opinion polling on leader preferences to become Lehendakari.

Results

Overall

Summary of the 26 February 1984 Basque Parliament election results
Parties and coalitions Popular vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Total +/−
Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV) 451,17841.81+3.86 32+7
Socialist Party of the Basque Country (PSE–PSOE) 247,78622.96+8.80 19+10
Popular Unity (HB) 157,38914.59–1.89 11±0
People's Coalition (APPDPUL)1 100,5819.32+4.56 7+5
Basque Country Left (EE) 85,6717.94–1.84 6±0
Communist Party of the Basque Country (PCE/EPK) 14,9851.39–2.62 0–1
Neighborhood Labor (Auzolan)2 10,7140.99–0.76 0±0
Left Socialist Candidacy (CSI) 2,5070.23New 0±0
Workers' Socialist Party (PST) 2,1730.20–0.03 0±0
Communist Party of Spain (Marxist–Leninist) (PCE (m–l)) 1,0440.10New 0±0
Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) n/an/a–8.49 0–6
Blank ballots[lower-alpha 5] 5,0290.47+0.08
Total 1,079,057 75+15
Valid votes 1,079,05799.42+0.41
Invalid votes 6,2470.58–0.41
Votes cast / turnout 1,085,30468.49+8.73
Abstentions 499,23631.51–8.73
Registered voters 1,584,540
Sources[6][7]
Popular vote
EAJ/PNV
41.81%
PSE–PSOE
22.96%
HB
14.59%
AP–PDP–UL
9.32%
EE
7.94%
PCE/EPK
1.39%
Others
1.52%
Blank ballots
0.47%
Seats
EAJ/PNV
42.67%
PSE–PSOE
25.33%
HB
14.67%
AP–PDP–UL
9.33%
EE
8.00%

Distribution by constituency

Constituency PNV PSE HB CP EE
% S % S % S % S % S
Álava 35.5 9 25.1 7 10.8 3 16.2 4 7.7 2
Biscay 43.8 12 23.1 6 12.9 3 9.4 2 7.4 2
Guipúzcoa 40.8 11 22.1 6 18.7 5 6.8 1 8.9 2
Total 41.8 32 23.0 19 14.6 11 9.3 7 7.9 6
Sources[6][7]

Aftermath

Investiture
Ballot → 11 April 1984 12 April 1984
Required majority → 38 out of 75 Simple
32 / 75
N
32 / 75
Y
32 / 75
32 / 75
11 / 75
11 / 75
Sources[6]

Notes

  1. Data for AP in the 1980 election.
  2. Unlike other electoral legislation in Spain, valid votes under the 1983 Basque electoral law did not include blank ballots.
  3. Undecided and/or abstentionists excluded.
  4. Within AP–PDP–PDL–UCD.
  5. The 1983 electoral law provided that blank ballots would not count as valid votes for the application of the 5 percent threshold in each district. However, this rule was not determinant in excluding any party from seat distribution during its time of application (the 1984 and 1986 elections). As a result, and for comparison purposes, blank ballots are shown here included within valid votes.

References

Opinion poll sources
Other
  1. "Ley Orgánica 3/1979, de 18 de diciembre, de Estatuto de Autonomía para el País Vasco". Organic Law No. 3 of 18 December 1979. Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  2. "Ley 28/1983, de 25 de noviembre, de Elecciones al Parlamento Vasco". Law No. 28 of 25 November 1983. Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  3. "Principales series desde 1971. Resultados por Provincias. Población residente por fecha, sexo y edad". ine.es (in Spanish). National Institute of Statistics. Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  4. "Real Decreto-ley 20/1977, de 18 de marzo, sobre Normas Electorales". Royal Decree-Law No. 20 of 18 March 1977. Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  5. "Government Law of 1981". Law No. 7 of 30 June 1981. Official Gazette of the Basque Country (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  6. "Elecciones al Parlamento Vasco / Eusko Legebilitzarra (1980 - 2020)". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  7. "Election Results Archive". euskadi.eus (in Spanish). Basque Government. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
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